Bringing hidden homelessness into the light

Image © summer360

For a long time, Jonathan* was living in temporary accommodation in the UK. The shared property lacked basic facilities, so he had to cook with just a microwave and kettle, and sleep on a camp bed. There were floods, pest infestations, and showers that didn’t work. When the residents complained to their private landlord, they were served an eviction notice.

With the help of a support worker from Justlife, a UK-based not-for-profit organisation,  Jonathan found his own flat and accessed funding to help turn it into a home, with items like carpeting and kitchenware. For the first time in months, he slept in a proper bed.

“Justlife helped me with all the paperwork, which I would have found confusing,” he says. “That first night I slept like a baby… I wish this had happened years ago. Now everything is all set up and there’s nothing I need to worry about.” Justlife addresses health, housing, and wellbeing needs, and it helps people move away from homelessness for good. As well as providing practical help to people like Jonathan, it also holds group activities, drop-in sessions, and skills development, alongside support with accessing services, benefits, and appointments.

When vulnerable individuals and families in the England face homelessness, the Housing Act 1996 ensures they’re placed in emergency accommodation. This is meant to be temporary, but stays can last months or even years. And because occupants aren’t legal tenants, they have very few rights, and the quality of their living arrangements can be sub-standard.

More than a quarter of a million people in England were living in temporary accommodation in 2023, 54 per cent of them children. [1] A lack of affordable housing is pushing many people to the brink, and puts children’s health, development, and social skills at risk. As well as being poor quality, temporary accommodation is also hugely expensive – costing GBP 1.75 billion each year. [2]

“Temporary accommodation is masking hidden homelessness,” says Simon Gale, chief executive of Justlife. “Even with a roof over your head, you don’t have access to safe, secure, and settled housing of your own. A home is more than shelter, it’s a place of safety, calm and comfort – somewhere that’s yours. Living in a B&B, sleeping on someone’s floor, or in a hostel, denies people privacy and a chance to feel safe and secure.”

Justlife also researches the issue and identifies long-term solutions, using findings to call for and inform UK policy change on hidden homelessness. As part of this work, it has joined Shared Health Foundation to support an All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation (a special interest group in the UK Parliament).

The group is calling for minimum standards, such as cooking and laundry facilities, and space for children to learn and play. Its recent Silent Nightmare campaign marked a huge success in March 2024, when the government updated the Homelessness Code of Guidance to include cots or cribs for children aged two or under in temporary accommodation. It’s hoped this will reduce the devastating level of fatalities among small children, where living in this type of housing has been identified as a factor in the childs’ death.

Support from MPs, and other influential leaders including the Bishop of Manchester, has driven this vital step forward in protecting families from cramped accommodation. Local councils now have to take space and cot facilities into account when housing young families, so that children will have a safe place to sleep.

Oak supports Justlife as part of our Housing and Homelessness Programme. We support organisations to end homelessness and create housing opportunity.

*Name has been changed
[1] Households in Temporary Accommodation APPG statistics, https://householdsintemporaryaccommodation.co.uk/statistics/
[2] Justlife, citing Local Government Association analysis: https://www.justlife.org.uk/news/2024/temporary-accommodation-local-government